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Consumer Price Index, Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington — November 2018

Area prices unchanged in October and November; up 2.2 percent over the year

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington was unchanged in October and November, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Stanley W. Suchman noted that declines in the indexes for energy and food, down 8.2 and 0.3 percent, respectively, were balanced by a 0.9-percent increase in the index for all items less food and energy. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, short-term changes may reflect the impact of seasonal influences.)

During the year ended in November 2018, the all items CPI-U rose 2.2 percent and the index for all items less food and energy increased 2.7 percent. The annual rates of gain for both series are below their recent peaks in May 2018. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

Food

Food prices fell 0.3 percent in October and November, after rising 0.4 percent in August and September. The latest decline resulted from a 1.4-percent decrease in prices for food at home (grocery stores), as prices for food away from home increased 0.7 percent.

During the 12 months ended in November 2018, total food prices were virtually unchanged, edging up 0.1 percent. A 2.1-percent decline in grocery store prices was offset by a 2.5-percent increase in prices for food away from home.

Energy

The energy index fell 8.2 percent in October and November, following a 1.4-percent decrease in August and September. The 8.2-percent decline was the sharpest two-month decrease since August and September 2015. During the latest period, prices fell for all three of the major components within the energy index, but the largest contributor was a 13.3-percent decline in motor fuel prices. The cost of natural gas fell 4.4 percent and electricity prices were down 0.3 percent in October and November.

During the year ended in November 2018, the energy index increased 0.8 percent. A 6.4-percent increase in electricity prices was nearly offset by annual price declines in both natural gas (-16.4 percent) and motor fuel (-1.0 percent).

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.9 percent in October and November, after rising 0.6 percent in August and September. The leading factors in the latest advance were higher prices for shelter (0.5 percent), household furnishings and operations (3.9 percent), and recreation (2.9 percent). Also contributing to the current increase were higher costs for public transportation and for used cars and trucks. Slowing these gains, prices fell for apparel (-4.8 percent), education and communication (-2.3 percent), and new vehicles (-1.4 percent).

From November 2017 to November 2018, the index for all items less food and energy rose 2.7 percent. Higher shelter costs, up 3.5 percent, were responsible for the largest share of the annual rise, but a 7.3-percent increase in recreation costs was another large contributor.

The January 2019 Consumer Price Index for All Items for Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is scheduled to be released Wednesday, February 13, 2019.

Technical Note

The Consumer Price Index for Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is published bi-monthly. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change in prices over time in a fixed market basket of goods and services. The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes CPIs for two population groups: (1) a CPI for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) which covers approximately 93 percent of the total population and (2) a CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) which covers approximately 29 percent of the total population. The CPI-U includes, in addition to wage earners and clerical workers, groups such as professional, managerial, and technical workers, the self-employed, short-term workers, the unemployed, and retirees and others not in the labor force.

The CPI is based on prices of food, clothing, shelter, and fuels, transportation fares, charges for doctors' and dentists' services, drugs, and the other goods and services that people buy for day-to-day living. Each month, prices are collected in 75 urban areas across the country from about 5,000 housing units and approximately 22,000 retail establishments--department stores, supermarkets, hospitals, filling stations, and other types of stores and service establishments. All taxes directly associated with the purchase and use of items are included in the index.

The index measures price changes from a designated reference date (1982-84) that equals 100.0. An increase of 16.5 percent, for example, is shown as 116.5. This change can also be expressed in dollars as follows: the price of a base period "market basket" of goods and services in the CPI has risen from $10 in 1982-84 to $11.65. For further details, see the CPI home page on the Internet at www.bls.gov/cpi and the BLS Handbook of Methods, Chapter 17, The Consumer Price Index, available on the Internet at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/pdf/homch17.pdf.

In calculating the index, price changes for the various items in each location are averaged together with weights that represent their importance in the spending of the appropriate population group. Local data are then combined to obtain a U.S. city average. Because the sample size of a local area is smaller, the local area index is subject to substantially more sampling and other measurement error than the national index. In addition, local indexes are not adjusted for seasonal influences. As a result, local area indexes show greater volatility than the national index, although their long-term trends are quite similar. NOTE: Area indexes do not measure differences in the level of prices between cities; they only measure the average change in prices for each area since the base period.

Footnotes​(1) Indexes on a February 1978=100 base.​(2) Indexes on a December 1982=100 base.​(3) Indexes on a December 1997=100 base.​(4) Special index based on a substantially smaller sample.​(5) Index on a December 1993=100.